“To all the fellow trainers, volunteers, employees and vendors making the trip to Kentucky, good luck and have fun. Nessi and I will be cheering for you from home.”
“I was having more fun and less stress riding than I had in a long time. I was enjoying our journey so much and each week I reveled in the progress we made. For once the struggles, though frustrating, just weren’t that bad because the fun rides far outweighed the bad rides.”
Casey French has realized that Alvie is not for sale. In this month’s blog, she discusses the moment she realized that and what it means for their journey.
“I am happy to say that we will be submitting our final entry for Barrel Racing. To me, this is an accomplishment in itself. When I began this journey, that was my hope for Alvie, but I was willing to take it whatever direction suited him best.”
“It is imperative that off-track Thoroughbreds are marketed correctly and efficiently to show that they are the right choice for the job or they will easily be bypassed for a more common selection.”
“Those game-changing moments are the most amazing feeling and they are what make all the struggles and frustrations worth it. You just have to work hard, be determined and wait for them to come.” (more…)
“Throughout our training, I had an idea of what my horse could be like, but … I was just riding on faith. I hadn’t really had many of those ‘glimpses of greatness’ … I just had a hunch that things would turn out okay… I’m feeling better about it with each ride.”
“Barrel Racing is of course a speed event, but it’s not the fastest horse that wins — it’s all about steps … I don’t need to train him to run, someone else did that! My main goal is to have a controllable, focused, and a correctly patterned horse at the Makeover.”
The Retired Racehorse Project announces that its 2019 ASPCA Makeover Marketplace has gone live. Shop now and set up your test rides at the Thoroughbred Makeover.
“If I had a dollar for every time I was asked how I manage to balance a full-time, demanding career with raising a toddler, riding, owning a farm, and being active around our community, I’d be richer than Scrooge McDuck … But really, it takes a village to make it possible.”
“I started to realize while that horse wasn’t meant to be my next eventing partner, I still managed to bring along a horse that other people loved to ride. All the time I spent wasn’t wasted.”
Riding and regular barn chores, unfortunately, aren’t actually enough to make us fitter if they’re the same thing we do every day: Marcella Gruchalak builds a fitness regimen that any rider can do at the barn!
“I will risk looking silly or incompetent to benefit myself and my horses all day every day! Anyone who considers themselves to be a horseman should be okay with that also. There is no resting place where you know it all — you never do.”
“One of the unexpected bonuses of my impulsive decision last fall to bring home Geoffrey is that I’m learning to appreciate the small victories that come with achieving small goals once again.”
Horse training can be a roller coaster: Marcella Gruchalak draws on her experience as a nursing student to describe the ups and downs of her journey so far with American Lioness, aka Nessi.
“He had an excellent ride and I was completely pleased. That was a big win in my book […]Well, it came time to load up and go home. Here is where the wheels come off and things get interesting…”
“Despite being highly educated and holding two advanced degrees, I can make some pretty dumb decisions. To some, taking on a three-year old OTTB after last season’s track record might make the top five list of ‘KB’s worst decisions that seemed like a good idea at the time.'”
American Lioness, aka Nessi, has been putting Marcella Gruchalak through the wringer recently, and an episode that made Marcella sprint across the pasture in fear for Nessi’s health is no different — with an unexpected outcome!
